the.com/sugar coating
Telling the truth in a costume so it doesn't scare the children.
means To make something unpleasant seem more acceptable by presenting it in a pleasant, softened way.
from Literal before it was figurative: pharmacists and confectioners really did coat bitter pills in a shell of sugar so patients would swallow them without gagging. By the 1800s, 'sugar-coat' had candied its way into English as a word for dressing up any hard truth so it would go down easier — the medicine changed, but the trick stayed the same.
- origin
- pharmacies coated bitter pills so patients would swallow them
- side effect
- the pill still works exactly the same inside
- office version
- feedback sandwich with two compliments hiding the problem
- risk
- too much coating and nobody notices the medicine